Secondary Mathematics Teacher Differences: Teacher Quality and Preparation in a New York City Alternative Certification Program

Providing students in urban settings with quality teachers is important for student achievement. This study examined the differences in content knowledge, attitudes toward mathematics, and teacher efficacy among several different types of alternatively certified teachers in a sample from the New York City Teaching Fellows program in order to determine teacher quality. Findings revealed that high school teachers had significantly higher content knowledge than middle school teachers; teachers with strong mathematics backgrounds had significantly higher content knowledge than teachers who did not have strong mathematics backgrounds; and mathematics and science majors had significantly higher content knowledge than other majors. Further, it was found that mathematics content knowledge was not related to attitudes toward mathematics and teacher efficacy; thus, teachers had the same high positive attitudes toward mathematics and same high teacher efficacy, regardless of content ability.